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Topic: Long wick vs short wick? (Read 3737 times)

I've been using the v3 clearomiser since Saturday and I've got to say I'm hooked. Much better flavour and vapour compared to the tornado tank which I started my vaping journey with around 5 weeks ago. Only downside I can see so far is increased juice consumption but that could be due to me vaping more as I'm enjoying it so much! Just ordered the 3.5ml tank so I won't be filling quite as much!

Anyway, I digress! I've been doing a bit of research on these rcs bad boys and it seems that other manufacturers have had these on the market for some time now. From what I can see earlier versions of their product had the longer wicks, just like totally wicked's rcs system, and their more recent products have short wicks, say around half a centimetre. So I'm wondering if anyone might think that the shorter wicks may be better? If so why might that be?

I did the same research a few weeks ago too Gav and ended up with the same question.Why on earth have a short wick ? I even saw people fitting a brand new atty out the box with a long wick on and then cutting the wick really short straight away. Then proceeding to tip the nova to wet the wick every few drags.

At first I thought oh this probably helps stop a flooding situation and the juice running down the center column and out of the bottom like what happens in a Torpedo chrome Clearomiser ( leakymiser ).But, afaik that doesn't happen in the Nova's. ( I could be wrong ? )

I think the answer is in the wicking material... some wicks absorb anddistribute juice better than others, and I think this may be because thereare a couple of different types of wicking material used.

I used a mini niva months ago with a short wick, and it was fantastic, when i replaced the head it had a long wick, and was awful! So maybe some wicks just cant distribute the juice if it has a long wayto travel?? Just guess work really.... but who knows! lol

Could be juice related too aswell ? Something like a high VG mix may struggle on long wicks, the gloopyness gets stuck along the wick and fails to travel up towards the coil so the Capillary action is lost and even if tipping on a long wick the high VG juice would find it hard to penetrate the edges of the wick.

But short fluffed out wicks could absorb a gloopy mix aslong as the juice hits the end fluffed out bit of the wick then it should make it to the coil before getting clogged along it's length.

I have used a thick VG liquid on short wicked clearomizers and found that I seldom got dry hits when the level dropped. However lighter fluids, like TW heavy cigar and cherry cigar, did give me dry hits but worked well with longer wick systems. I have yet to try the heavier liquids with long wicks.

I don't see how the length of a wick would make any difference as long as you keep it submerged in liquid. The longer wick would hold a little more juice if your tank runs dry but not much. I've used the 3 wick devices that had one of the wicks wrapped around the center post then over the top of the coil. It was prone to flooding then other times, it tasted burnt so I figure as long as the wick can get enough juice to the coil as I'm vaping, the length of the wick shouldn't determine if it's one is better than the other. Maybe since wicks move around and stuff, the longer wick assures you that at least some portion of the wick will be in the juice when the level gets low. I do like these systems but the expensive 3 wick system I have Is going in the bin because it doesn't allow me to fluff the wicks. One thing these systems have in common is the little slots where the wicks pass through to the atomizer and the as the wicks swell over time, they get pinched sometimes but taking the top off and tucking the wicks down seems to help a lot.

Lengthening a short wick might present a considerable challenge. Shortening a long wick? Far less of a challenge.

I think the short wick Vivis were the first to appear, but people felt they couldn't empty the tank completely. I quite like a short wick setup, and am fortunate enough to own a sharp pair of scissors.